Today was a little warmer than the previous days and we had planned to try our luck at gold prospecting.
Together with our friends, we all boarded the Navara and headed out of town on the road that heads to Mudgee and to the fossicking area to the north east of Hill End. We were told that you needed a 4wd to get into the area and that was probably true although I suspect that a normal vehicle driven carefully would easily negotiate a passage to a point where you can park.
Unpacking the metal detector, “He” found that the plastic mount on the3 detector used for gold was broken. Surprisingly, the broken parts were not in the carry bag and this will make a fix very hard (Note: “He” has managed to fashion a fix after returning to Sydney).
As far as the prospecting went, we didn’t find any gold but several positive leads with the detectors managed to unearth small pieces on tin that has been buried in the river bed for a long time. We did meet the couple who arrived at the campsite after us yesterday and soon we realised that we had met them several years ago when we overnighted at Seymour. It is a small world. Later in the day we would join them for happy hour.
We returned to Hill End and stopped for coffee in the small coffee shop in the centre of the village and then returned to our camp site where we gathered cameras and did a walking tour of the town. We are entering a photo contest next year that has a theme of “Old Buildings” and Hill End certainly has no shortages of them. Many a picture was taken and hopefully we can find a winner from what was taken.
After returning to our camp, we all enjoyed a happy hour with the couple that we had renew acquaintances with.
With the temperature dropping, we all headed to our relevant RV’s for dinner and the benefits associated with having a heater. We watched television before retiring.